“I don’t think things ought to be done because you are able to do them.
I think they should be done because you ought to do them.”
The Once and Future King
American historian, journalist, and author, Theodore H. White, was born on this day in 1915 (d. 1986)
Saturday was Star Wars Day also known as May the Fourth.
As in, May the Fourth be with You.
It was also the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, or, as I posted on social media:
May the Horse be with you.
You may be neither a Star Wars nor a Derby fan, but you’d have to live under a rock on Tatooine to have been unaware of those Saturday events.
My Facebook feed was flooded with Star Wars and Derby posts.
For reasons that don’t merit explanation here, I was at home all weekend. Saturday morning I started with Episode I and, by last evening, I’d managed to make my way through all nine of the main movies. No, I did not get to the other movies or the multiple series availabe on the Disney app.
Still, nine movies is no small task. And no, I didn’t just sit and watch them. I’m always multi-tasking. On a side
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note, that’s why I’m behind on watching all the Best Picture movies. Several in recent years come with subtititles. I can’t multi-task if I’m having to read the dialogue.
I digress.
One post the other day asked the question “which is the best Star Wars movie?” I know that there are disagreements amongst fans, based on the story line and the cinematic value.
For me, the best Star Wars movie will always be Episode IV: A New Hope because it changed the way we went to, and saw movies. For a generation, it was revolutionary.
Sure it was also the beginning of a huge marketing franchise.
In the summer of 1977, my best friend and I stood in line to see the film and we were amazed. Star Wars became the first movie I saw in theaters multiple times. It didn’t hurt that, when I returned to college, my roommate was (and continues to be) a huge Star Wars fan.
We waited in antcipation for the next two films. We shared the shock value when Vader told Luke “I am your father.”
Fast forward a few years and Star Wars became a family tradition for my family. Somewhere along the line, my Mother had purchased for us the three-volume VCS set. Yes, VHS. learn some history.
We introduced our oldest to Star Wars when he was about seven. Friday nights quickly became pizza and movie night. That usually involved pepperoni pizza and one of the Star Wars movies. More often than not The Empire Strikes Back.
A few years later, his younger brother caught on. For several Halloweens in a row, he was Darth Vader. And he once chased an actress playing Mrs. Claus down the hallway so that she would make sure Santa new he wanted a Darth Vader voice changer.
All these years later, both remain fans of Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter and, bless it, The Lord of the Rings.
It all started with the unlikeliest of movies forty-seven years ago.
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Saturday was Star Wars Day also known as May the Fourth.
